Everyday Life In The Sanzenin Apartments
by Polodo
Summary: At the butler-included apartment building, tons of interesting things can happen at any time. Maybe it's a new friendship. Maybe it's a fierce rivalry. Maybe it's a strange visitor. Although the happenings may seem very odd to the passerby, it's really just everyday life in the Sanzenin Apartments. The Latest Slice of Life: Chiharu's Missing Glasses.
1. The Duel

**Hello, one and all to my new story: Everyday Life At The Sanzenin Apartments. No on-going story here; this is just a bunch of unrelated short stories that take place in Nagi's Apartment Building. Just having a bit of fun working on character relations that are non-romantic.**

**Anyways, I best be bringing the first story out, so here it is. Enjoy!**

* * *

"You ready?" Nagi asked Ruka.

"Far more than you'll ever be," she replied with a smirk.

"Then let's go."

Both Nagi and Ruka needed a break from their mangas. For days on end they had taken the neet life to the max, waking up and going straight to the drawing table. Half the time Nagi wouldn't accept food from Hayate, saying that any seconds eating food were seconds not spent on creating her masterpiece (Ruka on the other hand would always gladly accept). And although hours on end were poured into planning, drawing, writing, stressing their doushinji, almost nothing had come from them. The pages were largely untouched.

And so they decided that a competition was in order in something else both were exceptional in. And what was that something?

Karaoke.

"For once, Maria's unhealthy addiction is coming in handy," Nagi muttered as she booted up the maid's karaoke machine. She turned to Ruka and said, "You should go first; I need a good introductory act."

"Then don't be surprised if the audience is disappointed by the follow-up."

"Just choose your song already."

The idol looked carefully, then frowned. "Aww, none of my songs are on here."

Nagi shook her head, "I took them off; no need for you to have an unfair advantage. Although I'd still win either way."

The idol shrugged her shoulders, "Whatever," and chose her song.

Nagi had to give the idol credit, there was a reason she was the person on everyone's mind right now. Her singing voice was exceptional, seamlessly filling in the missing singer's voice. Why Ruka decided she needed to do some choreography with the song, Nagi couldn't understand. What could she really do with only a meter long cord? Nagi guessed it was just the idol mentality drilled into her.

With a final chord struck, Ruka's song finished.

**Your Score: 100**

**Wow! Are you a professional?**

She put down the mike and sat down next to Nagi. Ruka bantered, "Don't get too impressed, that was only a warm-up."

Nagi stuck up her nose. "Impressed? Is that now a synonym with bored? Let me show you how it's supposed to be done. Like choosing a better song, to start with."

Nagi spent little time choosing her song, as she had already looked at the songs beforehand. Then she was silent still.

One heartbeat. Two heartbeats.

Inhale. Exhale.

And start.

With a bang the song began, and Nagi was right on top of it, her years of classical training taking command of her vocal chords. And like Nagi was astounded by Ruka's performance before, it was Ruka's turn to be amazed by the 13 year old rocking the karaoke machine. Her form was excellent, never stretching her chords, standing straight so that her lungs could reach maximum capacity, tons of minute details shown on display, creating a magnificent performance. This was perfection in singing. Ruka would've never guessed such a powerful voice could have come from the introverted girl.

But Ruka still wasn't going to lose to that girl.

**Your Score: 100**

**Amazing! The artist of that song would be proud!**

Nagi frowned. "I did ten times better, yet we're both at max score."

"As if!" Ruka jeered. "I'm the one that did ten times better!"

"These results are inconclusive!" Nagi shouted.

"That's right!" Ruka concurred with similar enthusiasm. "We need more rounds!"

"Which means we should probably do more styles as well," Nagi noted.

Ruka smirked. "Doesn't matter what genre you do, I'll still cream you."

"Then let's get it on. Let's do slow songs now." Nagi handed the microphone to Ruka. "Since you did so poorly last round, I'll give you the benefit of being first again so that you don't have to try and match my talent."

Ruka took the mike. "Such rude words. I guess you're pretty scared of going down in a landslide victory, courtesy of me. Don't worry, I won't let anybody know," she mocked, winking at the last statement. "Now where is that song, I saw it on here last time... there it is!"

Once again, the idol locked onto the song. The slow tempo, the careening accompaniment, and, most importantly, the soft vocals with her own. Her style, now heavily toned down, was now much more appropriate, with the song brooding on.

And like all the others, the song faded out, leaving only the score.

**Your Score: 100**

**I'm crying and I don't even have tear ducts!**

Nagi grabbed the mike forcefully. "Hmmph! Amateur!"

"That word, I don't think it means what you think it means."

"It means what I want it to mean. Now be quiet, and be in awe of my sadness!"

Nagi put in the song, and indeed, the average listener would have been in awe of Nagi's sadness. Her voice in a mourning tone, her body language, somehow showing signs of sadness and longing, the song, providing a beautiful backdrop onto a gloomy life. For the average listener, this would've been overwhelming, they would've been brought to their knees, tears streaming down their faces. But the average listener could also identify that Ruka was far from one.

Once again, the ballad closed. Nagi took a bow, and once again looked to the machine for her score.

**Your Score: 100**

**Unbelievably good! You have the voice of an angel!**

Ruka noted, "It seems once again we have both maxed out our scores."

"Then we must continue once again. Let's make it tricky this time: no Japanese songs! Only songs sung in foreign languages."

And so they dueled once again.

**Your Score: 100**

**Are you sure that's not your native language?**

"Now only songs that were #1 for five weeks or more!"

**Your Score: 100**

**Amazing talent!**

"Songs that use an accordion and a bagpipe!"

**Your Score: 100**

**All our song are belong to you!**

"Children's songs!"

**Your Score: 100**

**Perfection!**

The girls had spent hours on end on song after song, both maxing out the score each time they sung into the mike. Eventually they ran out of categories and just did whatever song they wanted.

Ruka yelled, "Hey, that's no fair! You're using your character song!"

"Well you used one of your songs a while back."

"It's your fault for forgetting to delete it!"

"Whatever." Nagi stuck out her tongue in emphasis.

"And is that even a real song?" Ruka asked as Nagi started up her next piece.

Nagi paused the music and looked at the idol in shock. "Is that even a real song? _Is that even a real song?!_ Don't you dare question the validity of Ke*ma and the 2D Girls!"

Ruka hadn't seen Nagi this worked up in a while. She held up her hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"You damn well better be! Now let me finish my song, and hear the beauty of their music!" Nagi said with great fervor as she restarted the song to give it another shot.

**Your Score: 100**

**Can you _not_ be perfect?!**

Nagi beamed. "So?"

Ruka sweatdropped. "I guess it was okay."

"I guess?! Okay?! That song was miles ahead of your "Forever Star"!"

"Nuh-uh!" Ruka defended. ""Forever Star" is a star forever hanging above the rest of the music industry! That was decent, I'll admit it. But it's still stuck on the ground!"

"That's a complete lie!..."

The two quickly descended into heated debate about the songs, their voices reaching far out in the moonlit night. Maria came into their room, saying, "Can you two please be quiet? The other tenants are trying to slee- hey, is that my karaoke machine?"

The maid quickly snuck into the room and played her favorite song. Ruka and Nagi were silenced immediately by Maria's voice singing with the song. Her stylistic cuteness overloaded their senses as they watched with glazed faces. Granted, Maria may not have had the formal training of Nagi, nor the years of idol training of Ruka, but she had practiced innumerable of times with the karaoke machine. And it showed.

**Your Score: 105**

**Impossibly amazing!**

"Kya~! That was so fun!" The maid squealed as she jumped for joy. The other two girls just watched in awe, brains short-circuited for a short time.

"...This isn't over," Nagi muttered to Ruka.

"Not by a long shot," Ruka nodded in reply.

* * *

**You know, after Nagi's karaoke battle with Nishisawa a while back, Nagi hadn't used her singing voice, so I thought I'd revive it. And who better to battle with than an idol!**

**Also, if it's painfully obvious I have no idea how a karaoke machine works, just do what I do: they took it from the mansion, so it's just one of those fancy, upper-class ones with all the gadgets.**

**Anyways, that's all for today! Will this have an update schedule like my other fic? Yup. The schedule is whenever I finish the next chapter, it will come out. So see you when I finish the next story and have a great day! ^^**


	2. Chiharu's Missing Glasses

**Remember how I said that these would take a while to get out? Well now you believe me, don't you.**_  
_

**The first three-quarters of this story I wrote a month ago, then I lost inspiration, then I came back. A common theme in how I write, I noticed.**

**But that's not important; what _is_ is this small little story about one of Chiharu's problems...**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

A sluggish hand flopped onto the snooze button.

"Ugh... not yet..."

The girl slowly sat up and stretched, despising the alarm clock. It was a Saturday for crying out loud, there's no need to get up this early. In plus, Sakuya doesn't get up in another 3 hours, so she didn't have any reason for this godawful awakening.

Chiharu rubbed her eyes. Everything was still blurry, as to be expected. Her hand slid across the flooring next to her mat, feeling for the bump on the floor that would end being her glasses. When it just came across smooth flooring, she sighed. _Good thing I have my contacts handy._

Getting out a hand held mirror, she slowly placed said contacts into their respective eyes. Sure it was harder with only one hand, but it wasn't impossible.

She waited another minute to wake up a little bit more, then headed out of her room, mid-stretch. _I wonder what's for breakfast? Maybe some fruit would be nice with rice. I really hope there's peaches..._

"Ah, good morning Chiharu," said a passing-by Hayate on his way to the kitchen. "How are you feeling to-"

_Why did he cut off himself,_ she thought. "Yes, Hayate?"

The butler began oddly staring."Eh... you look familiar."

She sweatdropped. "I should look familiar. I'm one of the tenants here, and we go to the same school. If I don't look familiar yet, there's a bigger problem."

He shook his head, replying, "No, not that. From somewhere else..."

_Where else would we have met?_ Chiharu thought.

_Wait..._

_I'm not wearing my glasses..._

_Which means that I look like I do when I'm Sakuya's maid..._

_...Crap._

Chiharu went into full denial mode, waving her hands furiously back and forth in front of her, and mouth spewing words faster than she could speak. "Oh, I'm sure it's all just in your head! There's no way we could've met anywhere else! Now if you'll excuse I need to go back into my room for... reasons!" She quickly shuffled back into the room and slid the door shut.

Hayate became even more confused. "Okay... I'll just finish making breakfast."

Chiharu called out from behind the door. "Please do! And get some fruit for it, too, if you please!"

She heard the slow footsteps of Hayate fade away towards the kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief. It was a miracle that he didn't identify her then and there. But now she had to be far more careful. Chiharu had to keep her two lives separate, so as to not be so embarrassed when her cool, calm, and collected character came into contact with her more emotional maid character. Under no circumstances could she come into contact with Nagi, Hayate, or Maria until she found her glasses.

_And didn't Sakuya say that she had another friend over here too?_ Chiharu sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought.

_But!_ She reminded herself._ If I find my glasses, all of these problems go away!_

With great haste she scouted the floor for her glasses, but to no avail. The glasses had grown legs and ran away, it seemed, and what a once over didn't reveal, a twice over had similar results with.

And now Chiharu was stuck in this unfortunate situation. No glasses to be seen, no way to get out, and she probably had five minutes until Hayate got curious and peeked into her room, a mistake that had gotten him slapped many times, and would ruin her reputation this time.

But what could she do? The glasses disappeared out of existence, and she was no Solid Sn*ke, so she couldn't sneak out of the apartment either to find the safety of Sakuya's mansion.

With a sigh, Chiharu slid open the door, peeking out ever so slightly to ensure that the hallway was empty, before stepping her foot out and immediately bringing it back inside her room. Another Hayate check, making sure he wouldn't show up at the most inopportune moment yet again.

Apparently she still preferred the Solid Sn*ke option.

Everyone was crowded in the kitchen area, eating the (per usual) delicious meal made by the butler, giving her easy passage most of the way to the door.

"Hold on," Hayate called to the tenants eating breakfast as she passed by. "I need to go get Chiharu."

And with that, the girl knew her fate was sealed. Just like the bad luck butler to get her hopes up only to crush them in the end. _Great,_ she sighed to herself. _Now my secret's going to get out._

Hayate stepped out into the hallway where Chiharu was, but didn't see her. He thought aloud, "You'd think she'd be out of her room by now. Wonder what's holding her up..." He continued down the highway.

Chiharu, now on the second floor above where she once was, began to freak out. On the bright side, Hayate didn't see her, but on the other side, what magical power had pulled her up into the second floor?!

She looked around in the room and found a thoughtful-looking girl wearing a kimono. This did not help make sense of the situation to Chiharu.

The girl turned to Chiharu, asking, "Are you Sakuya's maid?"

Slowly, Chiharu nodded, asking in turn, "And who are you?"

"I am here to help protect the apartment."

Chiharu sweatdropped. "No; your name."

"Not very important right now," the strange girl replied. "Sakuya told me you left your glasses at her mansion yesterday, and that I needed to take you there."

Chiharu's love for Sakuya grew tenfold that day.

* * *

Just like the strange girl, Isumi was the name Sakuya gave for her, said, the glasses were waiting for her once she arrived at her workplace.

"Thank you so much!" Chiharu thanked enthusiastically. She could finally head home in peace, not having to worry about her identity getting out.

"Oh, it's no problem," Sakuya replied with a smile, assuring, "Don't worry, Isumi reported this whole situation to Hayate, so everything will be fine when you get home. Just have the day off, I don't really need you here today. I hope you enjo-"

"Wait- back up! Isumi did what?!"

Chiharu's love for Sakuya shrank tenfold that day.

* * *

**And that's it! Originally I was going to try and form a small relationship between Chiharu and Isumi. I failed at that challenge, so decided to take a more comical approach instead. Very short, but very fun to write.**

**I have no idea when the next story for this will come out. I know what it will be about, but I feel that if I tell you the characters in it, it will spoil the story.**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this story and I hope you have a great day! ^^**

**...also, I feel kinda weird releasing two chapters of two different stories within the same hour, but that's just how the cookie crumbled today, I guess.**


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